Steve Winwood has had a most successful solo career for over a quarter century, beginning in 1981 with Arc of A Diver through 2003's About Time. Yet no album has so accurately reflected his versatile talents or vividly echoed the pinnacles of his past as Nine Lives.
Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die and The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys come to mind at the first sounds of the initial track, "I'm Not Drowning," where bluesy acoustic guitar, congas and timbales surround the effortless soul of Steve's voice. On "Fly"--an ode to optimism if there ever was one--the haunting sound of flute (which reappears on the penultimate track, "Raging Sea," to impart a sense of logic to the album) follows sweet strains of harmonica and grand swells of Hammond B3 organ.
